Original subtitles

It's an epic battle for the North East and Yorkshire.

Our two highest-scoring chefs, Cal and Will, are competing for a place

in the national finals.

There will be feasting with the Terrible Tudors

and a magical Giant Peach,

but who will reach those dizzy heights and soar

to those high scores?

Leave it with me, Andi! With great judging power

comes great eating responsibility.

This week's region stretches from the North East to Yorkshire

and the Humber. All four chefs scored highly,

but in the end Will and Cal triumphed.

Really excited to cook for the judges.

Four new palates to please.

Hopefully, I'm the one pleasing them the most.

Now they're competing for a place in the national finals

and a chance to cook at our banquet...

HE MOANS

That was just as rough as it was the first time.

...celebrating the very best of British animation, illustration

and gaming.

Head-to-head with Will, it's going to be one tough clay.

It's a daunting task. But I think I've got what it takes to win.

Michelin-starred, wildly inventive Cal...

I'm looking to put a smile on their faces.

...creates dishes as theatrical... SCREAMING

...as they are tasty.

Ha-ha!

Willis also a Michelin-star holder.

Is there anything you're worried about on this? You know what? No.

Focused and precise,

he delivers surprising flavour combinations.

Crazy - cheese, fishy sauce.

It's going to be one of the toughest decisions ever for the judges.

This dish I can definitely see at the banquet.

I absolutely love this.

But only one of them can go through.

The winner is...

Yeah, I really want to win. Now I'm here to cook for the judges,

hopefully I can smash it.

To beat Will today, I think Will needs to slip up probably!

I think it's going to be super tight, you know?

But let the best man win.

Good morning, gentlemen. Good morning.

How are you both feeling? Good. Yeah.

You look swish today. I am very swish today.

I thought I would. Now, it's judging day.

You've done brilliantly well all week,

but today the slate

is wiped completely clean.

Judging day literally flies past,

so I would suggest all of the bigger tasks - you get under way

as soon as possible.

And I can't wait to share your skill and talent with those lovely judges.

I'll see you soon. Thanks, Andi. See you soon. Thank you.

There's not a second being wasted, as they focus on the longest process

for their six courses.

I've got loads to do. I've got to do my artichoke puree,

my potato nests for my starter,

my watercress veloute.

I need to pick all my hen-of-the-woods.

Roast my hen-of-the-woods.

I need to...

HE MOANS

For his starter course,

Geordie Cal begins portioning dough flavoured with wild leek,

garlic and chive flowers.

Getting bread into the tins now. Could have had a slightly longer

proof on the bread earlier in the week.

Obviously I said that, Angela said that,

so really simple fix. just another ten minutes.

Hopefully we'll get that right.

Yorkshire's Willis spiralising potatoes for a blue string pudding

for his Clangers starter.

He's hoping to turn them an even brighter blue this time.

Both he and Cal know that they need to step things up

anywhere they can.

No second chances now. So, all the mistakes made during the week,

they've got to be put to right.

So, heads down, concentrating.

Deciding who goes through to the final

are our judges, headed by Tom Kerridge.

He's got a total of three Michelin stars, is a double banquet course

winner, and his expectations are high for this region.

It's a very proud area of the country, very proud

of the farming history and heritage there.

I'm so looking forward to that produce being celebrated.

Bold, strong cooking, big flavours,

and, of course, a tie-in to the brief.

Completing our panel are comedian and Off Menu podcaster Ed Gamble,

and acclaimed cookbook writer Nisha Katona...

Amazing. ..who founded the fast-growing Mowgli

street food chain.

I'm very excited about what the North East can offer.

I know the produce up there is incredible,

but to see how they weave that imaginatively into presenting

me with something that represents animation, illustration -

that's where I'm going to get really excited.

The titles - very intriguing.

The Magical World of Mushrooms - promising a lot there.

And The Soup Dragon, which is the sort of thing you see

if you get involved in the magical world of mushrooms.

They've both got magical mushrooms roasting for their starters,

but Cal has the biggest one on his barbecue.

Just colouring up the lion's manes.

Going to brush them with some miso butter, and then just some

fermented cep juice, as well,

just to pack loads of flavour in there.

To go with it, he puts leeks, wrapped in salt dough, in to bake,

as Will finds out if his potatoes have taken the colour better.

Yeah, they're blue. He fries them in rings as I brief Tom.

Good morning, sir. Morning, mate. How are you?

I'm grand.

Has it been a good week? It's been a great week, Tom.

Amazing.

We had a ten in three of the courses from Angela Hartnett. From Ange?

You know, she really was just blown away by the talent from these chefs,

which is fantastic to see. I can't wait!

Honestly, this sounds like my dream clay.

Let me tell you, I have got two exceptionally talented

chefs for you. Powerhouses. It's the battle of the titans in there,

I'm telling you. Bring it on.

Both of these chefs are proud to live and work

in their home regions.

Cal makes a change to improve his main course.

One of the comments on the pork was the fat wasn't rendered enough,

so I'm just going to water bath it today for about two hours,

just so I can get an easier render on the fat above the barbecue.

Will's working on his fish course, shelling and washing scallops,

before making the potato and sheep's cheese emulsion.

Good morning. Fancy seeing you here, Tom Kerridge.

This is the place to be. I know.

Ancl apparently this is the week. Andi has had an amazing time.

I'm looking forward to seeing the inspirations, as well.

Hoping for the Viz magazine. Hope springs eternal.

Well, it's the North East this week!

That's where Viz is from. Brilliant chefs,

and whittled down to the last two by Angela Hartnett.

Great food, great cooking.

Ange has given out tens.

Wow. Wow.

As Cal picks fresh crab meat, the chefs are now concentrating

on their canapes.

Will adds roasted yeast to caramelised artichokes

for a puree, and Cal is using up some carrot juice from earlier

in the week. I saved the carrot juice. So, not to waste it,

I'm just going to make a quick carrot puree.

Will dresses aged beef tartare with fermented chilli,

chives and marigold oil.

Glad to see you've got things under way.

This looks really excellent.

Now, our guest judge is also on the way.

He's a YouTuber.

He's a graphic novel creator.

He's voiced characters in animated films.

So, he's got a very broad understanding of this brief.

So, I would say that your storytelling

is going to be very important to that guest judge today.

Our guest has more than seven million subscribers on YouTube...

There's always been one prank that I've never quite

been satisfied with.

Every time I watch it back, it really annoys me.

Ancl that's this one.

...and has been a finalist on Strictly Come Dancing.

|t's Joe sugg-

Hi, Joe. Hello. Hiya.

Welcome. Thank you.

Thanks for having me. Take a seat, please. You're most welcome.

Are you quite a foodie?

To a degree, yeah.

I'm very small, so I don't need a lot of food... You're lucky.

...to keep me going. But I do like food.

So, Joe, what do you think about the theme this year?

We're celebrating animation and illustration through the food.

Is that something that excites you? I love it.

It's one of my favourite things.

I was a drawer as a kid.

I used to love drawing. It's nice to see Fungus the Bogeyman.

Yeah. Tom. Haven't seen him for a while.

LAUGHTER

We love having my portrait up there.

Yeah! But, of course, you've been

involved in the world of illustration

and comic books yourself. You've released a graphic novel.

Yeah, I think...

I mean, the whole idea was I wanted to do a book, but I wanted to do

something a bit different to a lot of the books that are out there.

I thought, for me, the best way of getting the younger generation

sort of back into reading would be through... Like, very visual,

through a graphic novel.

You won't know this, but I spent hours and hours queuing to see

you with my teenagers to get a signed copy of that book.

After queuing for four or five hours, is it going to really annoy

you when I get Joe to sign that and literally just get it off him now?

It's really going to wind me up.

Make him queue. Spell his name wrong. At least do that!

ANDI: Will places fermented turnip into artichoke cases,

followed by the beef tartare.

Cal's serving his canape in fried sourdough pie tees.

He starts with an alternative for Joe, who doesn't eat fish,

and Tom who has a seafood allergy.

In there, there's some carrot puree, some Berwick Edge cheese custard.

On top there's some smoked dry-aged carrot,

and then the lovage jelly, as well.

For the others, he pipes brown crab emulsion,

followed by the white crab meat

and apple and lovage jelly,

finishing both off with violas

and sorrel leaves so they look the same.

Clever.

Will tops his tartare with the artichoke and yeast mousse,

a generous grating of smoked ox heart and dried marigold flowers.

Wow. Don't they look good?

BOTH: Service, please.

Hello.

Oh, thank you.

They look sharp. They look beautiful.

The alternatives that Cal has come up with sound absolutely beautiful.

These chefs are already showing out.

Thank you. Thank you.

First, they're tasting Will's tarts,

with beef tartare, artichoke and roasted yeast puree,

and shavings of dried ox heart.

You don't eat fish, do you? But you love a dried ox heart.

Yeah. As I said, there's about 12 ingredients in that

that I've never heard of, so this should be fun.

It's very yeasty. And very rich, wasn't it?

It doesn't really wake your mouth up.

Texturally fantastic. Crunchy, crispy.

Does it wake you up for the start of an exciting banquet?

Not quite sure, but it is very good.

First time trying ox heart. I like it.

Yeah? Yeah, I do actually like it.

I like that it was crispy, as well. Yeah, it's a nice...

You pop it in and it sort of almost dissolved

in the mouth straightaway. Yeah. Nice.

Next, it's Cal's sourdough pie tee,

filled with either crab or carrot puree, and cheese custard

for Tom andjoe.

Beautiful.

Oh. Yeah?

Really punchy, isn't it? Mm-mm. The cheese custard is great.

I mean... Not with the crab. You've had crab. Crab good?

Fantastic. Fabulous. Because it's the brown crab,

so you get that proper rich flavour, as well as the white crab

being in there. And the lovage jelly and the pickled apple

really just lifts it at the end. That acidity. If I was going to have

more than one, I would probably go for...

...this one. I could eat more of that, even though it was quite rich.

You came in here saying you don't need much food,

and then it turns out we're on exactly the same page.

You're already thinking about having more than one.

LAUGHTER Yep.

So, we've got to vote and say which one we'd rather eat

by lifting up which one we'd go back and have again.

Wahey! Yes! Well done. Both very, very good,

but that one punched through for me. Yep.

One down. Cal, you're up first for starters. Yeah.

One down, 700,000 to go.

That's what it feels like, a little bit! Let's do it.

Having won the canape, Cal needs to keep up the momentum

with his starter.

He gets the salt dough leeks he put in earlier out of the oven.

They just burst out the ends. I've got a spare one.

They've got a mind of their own, really. Cos it's under pressure,

it's just shot out the end.

His starter is called The Magical World Of Mushrooms,

and along with the leeks and white tin loaf,

there's a mushroom broth,

oyster and lion's mane mushrooms,

and black garlic emulsion.

It's based on the illustrations in

lnkcap And The Blight Of The Bonnets

by the North East's Kylie Dixon.

All the starters this year are plant-based. Right.

Lion's mane, as far as I'm aware, is a mushroom. I was going to ask.

They're beautiful. Looking forward to seeing what that is, yeah.

You know, they've not gone to Windsor Safari Park with a pair

of scissors.

To get the maximum flavour into his lion's manes,

Cal moves them down to the coals for a while.

In the heat, he got a nine, which was the highest score.

What was the feedback from Angela, then?

Just a slightly longer proof on the bread.

The other thing that Angela had said to you was, because not everybody

knows that book, you might need a bit of explanation.

Are you doing that? Funnily enough, I already had those explanations.

You forgot? I totally forgot.

My fiancee Sian had already printed them off for me,

so she'll be cursing me.

"It's autumn and the Grump's prize leeks are the talk

"of the Magical World of Mushroom Marvellous."

Nice to see you get a shout out in this one, Tom,

by your nickname - the Grump.

LAUGHTER

Cal's hoping to impress with his prize leeks as he breaks

open the salt dough and delicately slices out the hearts.

Then he moves oyster mushrooms

he's been pan-frying onto the barbecue.

Where do you think you're going?

As his mushroom broth simmers, he starts basting,

basting, basting.

Angela wanted more garlic,

so I'm just going to put a lot more of the black garlic emulsion

on the oyster mushrooms.

Try and concentrate the garlic flavour a bit.

Concentrated flavour isn't something guestjoe is used to.

What kind of food did you have growing up? Smiley faces.

Honestly? I went travelling when I was 19 and I feel

like it all changed when I went to Thailand, cos then you're hit

with scorpions on a stick, chicken's bum cheek.

No potato smileys in Thailand. No potato smileys, no.

Cal's loaves are now baked.

Hot tray on the front.

He's made herb vegan butter to go with them, which he decorates

with nasturtiums and dill.

Will, can I get a hand, please?

Can you just do the leeks like that for me, please, buddy?

The barbecued lion's mane mushrooms are portioned and served,

and the oysters coated in the black garlic have been given

a crispy, sourdough crumb.

Just trying to fill the gaps a bit. If you do that, that'd be great.

Three minutes, my love. Three minutes, yeah.

To finish it off, he adds pickled shiso leaves, borage cress

and wild leek oil.

How's that broth, Cal?

The broth is perfect, seasoned really nicely.

It's served in living mushroom allotment boxes

with graters, so the judges can add shavings of fresh mushroom on top.

Service, please.

Wow.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Look at that.

This is exciting.

I love that. I love it.

I think it's absolutely beautiful. Mm.

Ancl it's just exciting to get a nice bit of bread, isn't it?

Oh, isn't it? just a nice, crusty, outer shell.

Lovely, soft, chewy middle.

That herb butter is fabulous.

That broth is fantastic. That packs so much mushroom flavour

into that broth.

I love a leek, as well. The leeks are great, aren't they?

This is the lion's mane.

It looks like a pompom. Like wet fur. Mm!

How's the Grump feeling?

The Grump is feeling great, thank you very much.

Good use of your prize leeks? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Beautiful bit of acidity, and that lovely onion flavour

that works so well with mushrooms. It works perfectly with

the mushrooms as well - that black garlic, sort of deeper,

sweeter sort of flavour.

Ancl it comes through on a nice level, I think. What's black garlic?

Garlic that's been cooked and fermented,

so it's... Not as strong.

It's still got that garlicky kick to it. Yeah.

This is local produce. Yep.

And what a way of celebrating it.

They're like jewels, aren't they?

Then to grate them into your own food, it's banquet-worthy.

The starter course is the battle of the fungis, as Willis also

basing his dish around mushrooms.

I need to get them all perfect to, yeah, impress the judges.

He prepares watercress, parsley and spinach to blend

just before service.

So, this is The Soup Dragon. The beloved Soup Dragon.

Ancl it's watercress veloute, roasted and pureed and pickled maitake

mushrooms, and blue potato string pudding.

Inspired by the Clangers, voiced by Sheffield-born Michael Palin,

and the green soup found in the volcanic wells,

served by the Soup Dragon.

WHISTLING

NARRATOR: Small has come to collect the soup for breakfast.

WHISTLING

Will adds a dash of sweet and smoky black rice vinegar

to some mushroom puree.

He scored an eight in the heats and is taking on board

veteran Angela's comments.

She mentioned that my soup was under-seasoned, so there's

going to be a bit more salt going in that. Yeah.

And she wanted a bit more of the peppery watercress, didn't she?

Yeah. Cos obviously the boiling liquid kind of goes on top

of the herbs, and sort of like cooks it while it blends.

I'm going to give it a little less time blending.

So, you've got some of that fresh pepperiness?

She said scale down my mushrooms a little bit.

So, I'm going to just put a few less in.

He carefully separates

steamed onion petals, which Angela said he needed more of,

then begins piping the garlic emulsion

and fennel pollen vinegar gel

onto his crispy blue string puddings.

Aw! The Clangers. Oh, my word.

And in the chamber, he's given the judges a box

of his mum's craft work.

Can you do the sound?

HE WHISTLES Is that it?

WHISTLING

They're beautiful, aren't they? What do you think Clanger tastes like?

We'll never find out.

But they are about to sample the Clangers' green soup.

Say the word, Will. What do you need? just a bit of mushroom puree

on the bottom. Mushroom puree on the bottom?

Just like a layer. OK, that's one clone.

The pickled maitakes and garlic capers go in next.

A good little pinch. All around, yeah? Yeah.

Is a good little pinch like that to you? Yep. Lovely.

Then he adds more onion petals...

Will, you have five minutes to the pass, my love.

How are you getting on? Yeah, good.

Cal, if I go with truffle, will you follow with the roasts?

...and slightly fewer roasted maitakes.

He froths up his well-seasoned watercress veloute and spoons it in.

You are due on the pass now, Chef.

Cal, will you just start wiping these bowls? Yeah, heard.

And the blue string pudding is served on the side.

THEY EXHALE

And we're only on the starter. Service, please.

CLANGERS WHISTLING Oh!

Lovely. Thank you.

I've always wondered what a blue potato pudding would look like.

I mean, it does feel like a moon rock, doesn't it, that you've

opened up to see what's inside,

and there's this bubbling green broth.

What do you think, Joe, of the presentation?

I was actually quite scared to eat it cos it is like eating a volcano.

It feels like I've been beaten up by flavour.

Like, my mouth is almost stinging.

I love it. It's beating me up with flavour, but it's stroking my hair

at the same time. That's a good thing.

I agree with you, Tom. Yeah. Like stingy, but in a good way.

It is over-seasoned. Now, I'm a salt boy.

But there is a hefty whack of salt in there.

My first thought was tone the salt down. Don't.

Keep it like this. It's like massive flavour.

It's huge. When you get to the onions, it begins to balance out.

But I'm having to work to get that balance.

What did you think about the blue potato cake?

I mean, it's brilliant to look at, but actually the flavours

that you get from it are brilliant,

I'm not sure that that would pip

the other one to the post.

The other one had such an elegance and did such dignity to mushrooms.

Both starters have been absolutely fantastic.

But if you had to ask me which one I would go back to again,

that pot there. Interesting.

They're already splitting the judges.

It's a good sign.

Cal is whisking up a fermented white asparagus sauce for his fish,

which is based on an episode of Paddington, where he goes fishing.

So, we're on to the fish courses now.

This first one is called Paddington's Catch.

It's barbecued plaice, sandwiched with a dill,

spinach and plaice mousse,

con fit potatoes, deep-fried fish skins, spruce shoots,

pickled sea herbs and caviar, fermented white asparagus sauce.

Just like his starter, he got a nine earlier in the week.

The plaice is stuffed with that amazing dill mousse.

So, talk to me about the feedback you got from Angela.

Angela said a little bit more dill in there, so that's

what I'll be doing today. Make sure it's cooked correctly,

thicken the sauce a little bit more, but still got loads to do.

Still need to make the mousse, stuff the fish, cook the fish,

make the sauce. Good luck, sir. Thank you, Andi.

It's a complex dish, and one of the trickiest bits is sandwiching

the mousse in the middle of a fragile de-boned whole plaice.

Take your time. Get the dill in.

Yeah, man.

Stuffed successfully,

he now carefully gets it on the barbecue.

I'm a massive fan of plaice.

I love plaice. A much underrated, underused fish

native to these waters.

Only problem with plaice is -

if you overcook it, it goes quite cotton woolly.

Cal's making an alternative forjoe.

Doing salt-baked kohlrabi

for the crunch of the crispy fish skin.

We're going to do some toasted sunflower seeds, as well.

Kohlrabi are much easier to catch than fish.

What is a kohlrabi?

Crispy, crunchy, bit peppery, bit turnipy. Radishy? Yeah.

A cross between all of them.

The plaice is taking a bit longer to come up to heat than expected.

Will, could you get that kohlrabi out of the salt dough, please?

You have four minutes to the pass, Cal?

Are you going to need a little extra time?

Five more extra minutes, I would say. All right.

The plaice is finally ready, and as Will slices kohlrabi,

Cal starts the next delicate job of removing the fish skin.

It looks good. Can you just whiz the sauce for me?

Will froths the fermented asparagus sauce

and adds crispy sunflower seeds to Joe's jug.

The fish is perfect.

Already over time, Cal rushes to add con fit potatoes,

then sea herbs.

BLEEP, I haven't put caviar on this. We need caviar. Caviar...

Onto the potato. Got it.

As Will plates Joe's kohlrabi in a separate bowl,

new pickled oyster leaf flowers go on.

You're just past the five-minute mark.

He's just got to add his crispy fish skin and split his fermented

asparagus sauce with dill oil.

OK.

Service, please.

That was just as rough as it was the first time.

That did not get easier.

Thank you.

This does feel a bit like Paddington has been lost

in a boating accident though.

LAUGHTER

It's like when Madge found Harold's glasses in Neighbours.

TOM WHEEZES

it just looks brilliant. Yeah. Stunning.

How's yours, Joe?

It's all stuff that I think I've never tried before, so I feel

like I'm eating like an alien dish.

What a fantastic sauce.

The sauce is gorgeous, I think.

It's kind of got a nice sharpness to it.

The fish itself, I think, is very, very good.

The mousse is really her by.

Again, I find this... My mouth is stinging with flavour.

What is it in my head that's going - this isn't ten out of ten again?

You've got all of these big flavours punching in and powering

through, and, you know, the herbs on the top,

the sauce, the caviar,

and, again, it's really punchy.

You kind of lose the fish, the flavour of the fish.

Yeah. I think it's just perhaps the wrong choice of fish.

It's exquisite in many, many ways.

I think it's just... We could have had the plaice a bit

more front and centre, and allowed to breathe.

Will's up next with his shellfish dish, Buried Treasure -

razor clams, roasted scallops, pickled mussels and baby leeks

in a yoghurt whey sauce, all buried beneath

a potato and sheep's cheese emulsion.

It's inspired by another episode of Paddington.

Oh! What's this? Oh! Treasure!

See, Judy?

That's not treasure.

It's just a worthless bit of pottery.

You got a ten. Everybody loved this dish.

Yes. What are you doing, firstly, for Tom,

who has a shellfish allergy?

So, for Tom, to replace the pickled mussels, I've got some

pickled brill, steamed brill,

and then we've got some smoked trout.

And then we move on tojoe who doesn't eat fish.

Roasted celeriacs. Oh, they look gorgeous. In some butter there.

So, obviously a replacement for the scallop.

It kind of looks like a scallop.

He adds butter to emulsify his yoghurt whey sauce,

and browns his baby leeks,

as, in the chamber, Joe's telling of a surprising career highlight.

What have been the best things that you've clone? I loved these two

behind me, Wallace and Gromit.

And recently I got to voice a character in

the Shaun the Sheep Farmageddon movie.

Yeah, I voiced a pizza delivery boy.

No-one speaks in Shaun the Sheep, so it was just making

noises, like grunts.

Can you give us a quick blast now? It was just sort of like a...

"Ooh!" That was you? That was it. Yeah.

Wow! That was me.

I thought I recognised that "Ooh!".

In the kitchen, everything's

hitting the pan for the three versions of Will's dish.

He fries the scallops and puts leeks, chive oil,

celeriac or razor clams,

into smaller labelled pans.

Can you put the six pieces of trout in the bowl?

Six pieces of trout, no shellfish in the bottom. Pickled

mussels in the two near me, please.

Pickled mussels. Four of them.

Four mussels in there.

The scallops are done.

They look great, those, mate. Perfect.

But he's less happy with some of the pieces of brill for Tom.

That one looks better, actually. Yeah. You can use that one.

He adds the yoghurt whey sauce

to his mix, which finishes off the cooking.

Just give it a little whirl. Yeah, a little whirl.

It's spooned into mended broken treasure bowls.

Then he adds the potato and sheep's cheese emulsion he made earlier.

Nice gratination there, Will. Bubbling away.

No question that's hot.

He serves it with a scroll explaining the broken bowl.

Service.

Thank you. Thank you.

Tell you what, Paddington does a lot, doesn't he?

This is a fish course

and the first smell that hits you is of cheese.

Yep. I absolutely love this.

This couldn't be more up my street. What do you love about it?

The cheese hit is just fantastic.

That sort of creamy but light, very cheesy topping.

Ancl you start to worry it's going to be a bit rich,

but just the meatiness of the scallops and then those pickled

mussels really just help cut through the fattiness of the cheese.

It's so comforting.

It's very unusual for a fish dish.

It's very unusual. It's very brave to put cheese, you know,

as such a sort of top note.

And I have to say, those are some of... You didn't get scallops,

but honestly, Tom, they are fabulous.

They are sweet and cooked to perfection.

And yet they're immersed in this hot, crazy cheese fishy sauce

that really works.

Amazing.

The smoked trout, the brill,

the cheese is beautiful.

But you know what? The acidity from the yoghurt whey sauce... Mm.

What a really interesting fish course.

How's yours, Joe? Yeah, it's really good.

When I first started, I thought, "Oh, that's a lot of cheese."

This feels naughty to eat. You know when it's like too much cheese?

But, actually, when you do dig for the treasure,

it all balances out nicely.

Yeah, it's really nice. It's lovely.

Something more to do with Paddington would be great.

But, again, I don't know if that's going to be reflected in my score.

LAUGHTER

Fish - done. Done, dusted.

Thank goodness. And now you're moving on to mains. Yeah.

Easy! Full speed. You haven't got complicated mains, either of you,

have you?

There's no respite as I head to the chamber to find out

how the food is going down.

Hello, my loves. Hello!

How are you all doing? I'm very disappointed with myself...

Oh, why? "actually, because I'm trying to save room

and I just can't because the food is so good.

Yes! I have eaten everything,

all of it, the whole lot. Yes! Like every course of every dish.

I'm like, "Oh, my gosh."

It's everything that your palate would want.

It's that sharp, the bitter, the sour, the sweet.

Everything is in there.

I've had the absolute morning of my life. This feels like Christmas Day

right now. And we're only at the halfway mark.

Joe, how are you getting on, love?

Most of the things I've tried today, I've never tried in my life.

So, it's been quite the morning. Oh! Especially

with the mushrooms, as well, on that first starter,

it does sort of transport you back to like a sort

of fantasy sort of woodland world,

which I really liked.

Great! Yeah. Honestly, we're having a wonderful clay.

Well, there is bags more to come. Some incredible meat cookery,

some beautiful desserts, a wobbly thing of giant proportions

that I think you're going to love.

I am a wobbly thing of giant proportions.

Nisha just looked at me then!

LAUGHTER

In the kitchen, Cal checks on the wobbly thing

as they cook their final three courses.

Feeling good? Yeah. Light at the end of the tunnel.

Nearly there now. Yeah. Be good to get it clone

and out of the way. I'm sure it will.

Will's feeling the pressure as he's now serving first.

He focuses on perfectly wrapping venison faggots in pig's caul,

a type of fat, as Cal gets trotters out of the oven.

So, with the trotters, I've just steamed them a bit longer to try

and soften up that gelatinous sort of skin on them,

and then just glaze them up slowly from there.

The other clay, I just glazed them purely from cold,

so I think this will make a huge difference.

How are you two gentlemen doing?

Good. Yeah. Really good. Under the cosh somewhat? Yes.

A little bit. I want to tell you both,

I have rarely seen such a happy judges' chamber.

Really? You feeling all right, Cal? Screaming on the inside.

Will's browning a venison rack before starting a complex cooking

process of gently warming it in a butter bath,

with regular quick flashes in a hot oven.

The idea is that he gets a perfect rare cook inside, with plenty

of caramelisation on the outside.

The first main course for us today is called The Wishbone,

and it's a tempered rack of venison, with black garlic puree,

beetroot ketchup, caramelised cauliflower puree,

roasted cauliflower, venison faggots,

and glazed red cabbage, with a venison and herb marrow sauce,

Yorkshire park in and duck liver parfait.

Wow. I mean, straightaway, that sounds amazing. Wow, yeah.

Ancl it's inspired by a book and TV series, Funny bones.

This episode follows the skeleton characters finding a wishbone.

Loved Funny bones.

Absolutely my childhood, this.

So, very excited to see how this is represented.

We're hoping there's more meat on the bone than there

are in the characters in Funny bones.

Are they like that? They're skeletons, Nisha. Oh!

They're not just thin people.

Ed and Nisha might not share the same books,

but they do know their food,

so Will needs to deliver on his Wishbone main.

He gets his venison rack in for the first quick roast

and sweats down red cabbage in duck fat.

The wishbone was a big thing when you were a kid.

Me and my brother used to fight over it, I remember it very, very well.

Yeah. Your main course,

it's a kind of masterclass in meat cookery.

It was absolutely stunning. Thank you very much. And you got a big,

fat ten. I did.

I'm assuming there are no changes?

No changes.

I can see park in, your grandma's recipe,

that incredible park in. Yep.

Is there anything you're worried about on this?

You know what? No.

Calm and confident,

he returns the venison to the butter bath and picks out only the most

perfect pieces of his park in to serve.

Yorkshire park in, Tom? I think it's a little bit like

a Jamaica ginger cake.

That little bit of spice goes very well with venison.

Venison is deer? Deer, yeah. Mm-hm. Yes.

Is there anything else that's a first for you on this?

Most of it. I'd say about 95% of it.

Excellent.

Will's getting ready to serve.

He fries his faggots in a generous helping of foaming butter,

and pipes the liver parfait and beetroot ketchup

onto his park in.

Flash the cauliflower? The cauliflower. Yeah.

Just a minute.

After heating up the florets, Cal again gets the fiddly job

of tweezing on tiny oxalis leaves,

whilst Will covers cauliflower puree

with pumpkin seeds on plates

subtly etched with Funny bones.

You have three minutes, Will.

Yes, Chef. How's your venison?

Don't know yet.

While the venison rests, he places the park in on a wishbone

and serves the red cabbage, now sticky with a port and blackcurrant

glaze, on the side.

What's going on there?

Just a black garlic puree with some smoked salt in it.

Lovely. The faggots go on

the cabbage, and venison and cherry blossom sauce is poured.

Finally, he cuts into his carefully cooked rack.

Just how you wanted it, Will?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, look at that. Beautiful.

It's served on the bone, and he makes sure there's not a crumb

out of place. Will you just get this pumpkin seed, Cal?

Yeah.

Ooh!

Service, please.

WHISPERING: I was expecting this to look dramatic as it came in.

CAL LAUGHS

You did it. Is it a relief to get that out? Yeah.

Oh, that's cute. It's a little skeleton, one of the characters.

Yeah. Cute.

The red cabbage and the venison faggot, I think,

are absolutely delicious.

I love the park in. The park in is unlike anything

I've had with a dish like this before.

I think it's really interesting. Taken me by surprise.

Did you like that, Joe? I loved it, yeah. It's got a bit of, like,

a spice to it. Is that the liver?

It's got liver on top of. Yeah. Yeah.

So, my first time trying liver.

I quite like that.

It's quite nice.

The piece of venison, though, I have to say, is outstanding.

Beautifully cooked, wonderful flavour.

Everything on this plate is delicious.

The connection to the theme, obviously there's the lovely...

The skeleton face and the wishbone.

But it just doesn't feel like it's celebrating the joy of that book.

That's not enough, really, to make, you know, a themed banquet.

We ask a lot.

Ancl one of the things we asked for is when it's brought in and put

in front of us, to get that sort of shiver of excitement.

Ancl that certainly doesn't do that.

There is a lot here, though, to be said for - OK,

don't rip it all up and start again. Yeah, no.

Do exactly the same cooking, do exactly the same dishes,

but really put a bit more extra effort into the way

that it's tied in to the brief, how it's presented.

I wanted to open a ribcage. You do.

There we go.

After Will's focused precision comes Cal's

throw-it-all-out-there creativity.

I feel more on top of it today.

Pork's rendering nicely.

Pig's feet are getting sticky.

In the heats, he ran out of time.

But Angela said his main course could be a showstopper with a few

changes, starting with the render on his pork fat.

The pork, this time I've just sous vide it for two hours,

just to soften up that pork fat,

so it shouldn't take as much rendering now. But I am

going to render it a little bit longer.

Still brushing it with the smoked pork fat, just to keep

it that lovely smoky flavour. So, this is The Tasty Tudors.

It's barbecue loin and belly of pork, barbecue maitake mushroom,

sausage-stuffed trotter,

redcurrant and mulled wine jelly castle... Wow.

...mead-braised carrots, salt-baked cabbage

and a smoked pork bone sauce.

And it's inspired by the Terrible Tudors in the Horrible History

series written by Sunderland-born Terry Deary.

So, this is where we want drama.

You can't use words like that and not give us drama.

And Horrible Histories is like you're learning

about history, but in such a fun way,

so it's got to be fun. Look at these implements. I know, yeah.

This bodes really well.

ANDI: As the judges ready their Tudor two-pronged forks,

Cal is keeping a careful eye on the barbecued pork.

Just protecting the skin by having that hanging over the edge

of the barbecue, cos you don't want to burn that

from all the naked flames.

As it grills, he gets cabbage hearts into the oven.

He's sealed them in salt dough for a gentle, even cook.

Don't forget your timers.

How are you doing, darling? Yeah, very well.

In control. In control! Yeah, I think so.

So, you got an eight for this? Yeah.

And Angela's feedback was what, remind me?

It would be good if we could cook the pork

feet some more. Yeah.

A bit longer, a bit more tender. A bit more tender.

Ancl render the fat a bit more out of the pork loin.

Also, Angela said, be more generous with the pork on the board.

I'll be putting double on today. And the all-important question -

how's the jelly? Oh, I think the jelly will be all right today.

Are you hoping for a bigger score?

Yeah, hopefully I can get some nines and tens on it today.

He's giving every element more attention, braising carrots

in carrot juice before turning his maitake mushrooms

over the coals.

Oh, nearly, boys!

Mushroom rescued, he's back on the trotters.

Mm. That's beautiful.

Then the cabbage is ready, and there's no time to spare

to let it cool.

SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH

He gives it a quick char, stuffs it with the garlic scapes,

which are the tender green stalks of wild garlic, and then finishes

it off with a drizzle of nasturtium oil.

Joe, you went from YouTube to graphic novels.

You didn't have to do that. You've obviously got a passion

for this kind of thing. Who were your influences?

My biggest influence was from reading the Be a no, actually.

I grew up getting the Be a no.

I was obsessed with the Be a no.

Every Thursday, I'd go and get it, and went full circle and ended up

becoming the guest editor for the 70th anniversary

of the Be a no. Oh, wow. Oh, my word.

They created me and put me in Be a no town and I had a whole thing

with Dennis the Menace, helping him thatch his tree house,

cos I used to be a roof thatcher, as well.

So, it's weird how it's all kind of come full circle.

That's not a traditional stepping stone. Roof thatcher,

YouTube, editing the Be a no. Yeah.

It's been a very odd wave that I caught. Yeah, a very odd wave.

Got to get the jelly out now.

Cal's de-moulding his centrepiece.

If it all collapses, he doesn't have a spare.

But, thankfully, it's got just the right amount of wobble.

Next, he portions his trotter sausage, serving it with the feet

ends for some Horrible Histories gruesome detail.

I'm looking to put a smile on their faces.

He's left Will watching his carrots, basting in mead,

after he burnt them earlier in the week.

How are those carrots? Good. They're glazing.

Could you just get those on the board? And just sort of line

them up in a line. That's perfect. Good enough? Yeah.

That pork's looking spectacular.

The pork is brushed with smoked pork fat.

Ancl some salt all the way along the top.

And Cal plates the meat and maitake mushrooms

on Tudor-style pewter plates.

You have four minutes, Cal. How are you doing?

I'm going to be up early, probably one minute from now.

Will places the garlic-scape-stuffed cabbage heart

into the outer leaves.

Scrunch those outer leaves around it, so it's almost hidden.

They've been left out of the fridge this time, to stop them making

the cooked cabbage cold.

To make his platter fuller, he adds the rest of the pork.

And then, finally, the smoked pork bone sauce is decanted.

Shall we?

Wobble, wobble.

Beautiful. Service, please.

Oh, my goodness. That's it!

Oh, how fabulous.

Oh!

Main course is done, boys.

How does that feel? Good. Yeah, sensational.

NISHA LAUGHS

Do you want me to serve you out with some stuff, Joe? Oh, thank you.

I'll do that. We'll go a bit of turret for you, Joe.

I'm a trotter fan.

Got a bit of everything? Mm!

I haven't tasted it and I'm so excited.

That pork with smoke on it is incredible.

The barbecue flavour is right there.

It's like the best belly pork. And the jelly castle,

that's so delicious.

And the trotter. What do we think of the trotter?

Never had a trotter. Really tasty. Mm.

So, the thing about trotter is it's more used as a sausage casing

for the stuffing, for whatever you're going to put into it.

But the outer skin still needs to be cooked enough

for you to be able to eat it.

Ancl this, for me, is not cooked enough. It's too chewy.

I feel very transported with this dish.

I feel like it has taken me back to medieval times. The pork skin,

I would probably pass it to the greyhound under the table.

That's why it's there! Give that to the dog. Yeah.

It's a really clever way of making a lot of the ingredients look sort

of medieval and quite simple,

like that carrot, and then packing so much flavour into that carrot.

These carrots are so good, Tom!

They're lovely. Mead-braised carrots, they're so soft

inside and full of flavour.

The cabbage - it's quite nice and gentle, actually,

the cabbage. There's so much going on.

But that pork is still the star of the show for me. As opposed

to the venison dish, this has got the theatre.

This does suck you into the world.

This is brilliant. It's really, really good.

But the pinpoint accuracy of cookery is not quite the same

as the venison dish. However, this dish I can definitely see

at the banquet with some tweaks.

It's pre-dessert.

Cal is making a lemon verbena sponge to create mini cakes inspired

by the book and animation

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse.

Lemon drizzle.

This is quite a hill.

Is this better?

Oh. Well, I don't want to be too much trouble.

His mix is ready to bake.

I need an oven rack. That'll do.

Will, meanwhile, pours Wensleydale parfait into moulds to set

for his Wallace-and-Gromit-inspired Where's My Cheese?

To go with them, he's making cinnamon and ginger crackers.

Cal shakily pipes butter cream onto the tiny cake layers.

Once they're built,

he tweezes on little pieces of raspberry and blueberry.

Oh, probably the fiddliest as it comes, to be honest.

But if it gets to the banquet, Will might give me a hand.

Willis having parfait issues.

It's not really setting.

You all good, Will? Yeah, they're just not set.

As Will waits, Cal pipes in sorbet and tops his cake

with a final butter cream layer.

There we go. We're good.

Thank God for that.

You have four minutes to go.

Will, are you all right? just about.

Did you have a bit of a moment? Yeah.

I'm very happy with this. They're set finally.

With just minutes to go,

Will's parfaits are popped out and he sticks them

between the crackers with elderflower vinegar gel.

Cal finishes his off with violas, lemon verbena

and apple marigold cress.

OK, Will, I'm going to plate now.

There we go.

Service, please. Yep.

Will's Wensleydale parfait cracker, inspired by Wallace

and Gromit, is first.

That's a beautiful little thing.

It's quite surprising, isn't it? You open it up and you peer in. Mm!

It's like, "Oh." A little ice-cream sandwich. Mm!

A cheesy ice-cream sandwich. Mm.

Again, it's such a clever use of cheese.

And for a pre-dessert, it takes you from savoury into sweet.

But I like that and it will play with people's minds at a banquet.

Yeah. Like, part of that tasting journey.

This is very, very good.

Next is Cal's tiny cake from

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse.

Oh, wow. That is beautiful.

That is the cake from the book.

He describes this cake with cream and fruit piled on the top of it.

OK. Even I was going to go spoon, but this is going

to be very interesting.

What a great bit of construction that is, as well.

Great flavours and breathtaking to look at.

It really took me by surprise cos I think I was just expecting

that sponge cake, and it's a completely different consistency.

The sponge is kind of like dried out and crispy, so it's almost

like a biscuit. So, our choice here, I think, isn't about which one's

the best - cos, for me, they're both fantastic.

It's how would we want our meal to go?

I think in terms of the flow of the banquet, that would bridge

the savoury into the sweet.

But I would be so sad if people didn't get to see and taste

what we've just had. Well, they can see it. That's why I hold this up.

From reading the card, I would pick that all day long but then actually

trying that - never thought like, Wensleydale,

I would be that into, but that actually, for me... It's brilliant.

But I'm going to go with Nisha.

I love them both.

So, two-all. A dead heat.

With one course to go and the competition tight,

the execution of the dessert could decide our winner.

Willis making an apple marigold vinegar caramel,

heating up sugar and glucose.

Oh, my goodness me.

And he's also making a brown butter parfait, mixing mascarpone

with eggs and sugar.

So, we're onto desserts proper now.

This is The Phoenix Meteor Shower.

It's a brown butter parfait, caramelised pears in apple marigold

vinegar, buttermilk granita, ruby aerated chocolate,

and frozen hazelnut crumble.

Ancl it's celebrating author and illustrator Dapo Adeola's book,

Look Up, about a young, aspiring

astronaut, encouraging everyone to look away from their phones

and up at the Phoenix meteor shower.

That's a message and a half, isn't it?

Will parisiennes the pears to resemble meteors

and compresses in the apple marigold vinegar caramel.

You scored an eight for this. Yeah.

Angela said that I needed more of a focal point, so I'm leaving

the brown butter parfait bigger chunks, so they sort of look

like moon rocks.

So, how much bigger are these chunks of parfait going to be?

They're going to be the biggest thing on the plate, which I think

is the most important thing.

Will freezes a buttermilk and gelatine mix in liquid nitrogen

to form a granita.

Will, you have two minutes to go, my dear. Yes.

He dresses his plates with a caramelised pear puree,

followed by the compressed pears, as he starts building

his meteor shower.

Feeling fly? Yep.

Feeling funky-fresh? Oh, yeah.

Hazelnut crumble, blackened with activated charcoal to look like

meteor dust, is next.

Yes, mate, it looks great.

Followed by the buttermilk granita and aerated ruby chocolate.

You've got one minute, Will, please. Yeah.

The brown butter parfait, also frozen in liquid nitrogen,

completes the meteor shower.

Looks fantastic, Will. Those are much bigger, Will.

Yeah, they look class. Nice.

That's great. Service, please.

Are you happy with what you've just sent out? Very.

A lot happier than first time.

CELESTIAL MUSIC

To transport the judges to outer space,

Will serves to celestial music.

What do you think of the butter parfait?

I love that rich, buttery taste.

There are many, many good flavours going on here.

The pears are just... They're such a welcome addition

in this. And they're soft, as well. Mm!

I love it. Oh!

I think it's very clean. It's beautifully balanced.

I mean, my only criticism would be it's a bowl

of lots of things.

There's not quite a focus of a particular dessert,

but I don't know that you actually need it.

Is this enough of a link? It's great that we've got the light.

It doesn't celebrate the illustration. It doesn't.

I disagree. I think this is right on theme.

It is a meteor shower.

The inspiration tells us to put down our phones and look

up at the meteor shower. The irony being, if I was given this,

I'd be straight on my phone to text my friends about it.

And these little tiny, like, rock things,

I don't know what they are, but they actually look

like little bits of meteor rock. Mm.

I'm not a pudding person either.

But I scoffed that.

This week, I'll be eating everything.

LAUGHTER

Now, it's Cal's last chance to show the judges why

he should be cooking at finals.

And, finally, we havejames's Giant Peach, inspired by

James And The Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake's

iconic illustrations.

Cal's making woodruff ice cream for one of his elements,

which all take the form of a different character

from the book.

I'm just going to get the milk and sugar blended with the woodruff,

turn it into the ice cream, and then it'll just go

inside the ladybug chocolates.

He warms his lemon verbena mix for his jelly worms,

passes and pours into moulds.

The centrepiece of his dish, his peaches...

# How do you like your peaches in the morning? #

...have been in the blast freezer all day.

They're camomile cheesecakes with a peach compote centre,

and he creates a hole for the wiggly worm to burrow into.

He scored a ten for this dish from Angela Hartnett.

So, I'm assuming you're not making any changes?

No changes for me today. just wanting to execute

it to perfection. Yeah, yeah.

So, that piece of peach in the middle needs to be

just the right temperature. That's the hardest thing about this

dish, cos you've got to get everything frozen.

I'm at the stage where the glaze is ready to spray on. Once that glaze

is sprayed on them, set that again and then get them out to defrost.

I really hope you do well with this. Thanks so much, Andi. Take care.

I hope he doesn't leave the peach off. That would be a disaster.

Ancl if he left the peach off, I'd really hate that.

Cal sprays his peaches with the glaze.

Yellow, first of all, followed by a red hue.

They look just as good as they did the other day. Yeah.

Super pleased.

He's hoping they will defrost in time.

OK, Cal, you have four minutes, my love.

He pipes in dark chocolate to create a stem that will also hold

the strawberry laces in place.

They'll attach to peach essence infused helium balloons.

POPPING

We need another balloon.

The jelly worms are unleashed from their moulds.

He attaches the balloons to the peaches.

Will, could you get the worms?

And the Giant Peaches are floated onto the plate next

to a small figurine ofjames.

You're due at the pass now, Cal.

But just like yesterday, he's having temperature issues

with his peaches.

Yeah, I think these would be perfect in five minutes

cos the centres are still a bit frosty.

Let's see where you are when you've got your worms on.

HE SIGHS

The worms are placed into the holes,

and he's keeping an eye on spare peaches that he made

so he can gauge the temperature.

How's the centre? Still a little bit frosty.

In an ideal world, I'd wait ten minutes and send it.

How frozen are you talking? just a little bit frosty.

It's such a shame.

After giving him five minutes grace, I can't allow him

any more time as it's not fair to Will.

All right, then. Let's have it up, darling.

OK. OK?

Happy clays. Send it. Right, service, please.

Hold yours a little bit further down.

Thank you.

Three, two, one.

NISHA SCREAMS

Ooh!

It smells like peach. Brilliant! I was waiting for you

to say go. Oh, it smells!

It's got the aroma. Oh, this is so cool. Wow.

To make a gummy worm.

You can't eat James. No. Did you try?

Yeah.

Never eat the main character.

I've learned my lesson.

I love that camomile yoghurt cheesecake. Mm. Mm.

Really delicate.

Sorry to go on about the worm, but I'm very impressed

by stuff like that. I love the ladybird.

The camomile in the cheesecake is delicious.

The peaches in the middle were a bit icy.

Mine, they've gone a bit icy. Frozen. Yeah.

I like to pretend I'm a giant eating this.

This really ticks a box of immersive...

You understand the story straightaway.

Yeah. It's wicked.

You're right, though. The peaches in the middle were frozen,

but the problem with something that's frozen,

it hasn't got the same flavour depth.

So, as a dish, I can see exactly where this chef wants

it to be. In terms of its execution,

it's not quite there,

but it is brilliant.

It's obviously a very, very good chef with a brilliant imagination.

That were a big push.

Yeah, the enormity of that was quite something.

We've made it hard for the judges. It was definitely hard for us.

Yeah. Very.

Have you eaten everything? Everything. Everything.

Every time we got a new dish, I was like, "OK, well,

"this chef's nailed it." And then the other chef's dish...

Then you go, "Oh!" They've nailed it in a completely different way.

I've never eaten this much food, I don't think, in one sitting,

which has been amazing. Right.

So, scoring? Any big scores from you, Tom, do you think?

They're all big scores. Honestly, you can't tell which way

it's going to go. I can't call this.

I think there's going... This is going to be so close.

I can't recall a judging day that's had two high-scoring chefs

this closely matched

and the judges are taking their time.

Shall we go see what they've got to say? Yeah. Good luck.

Let's do it.

It's time to find out which one will represent the North East

in the national finals.

Chefs, welcome to the judges' chamber.

How are you both doing? Good. Yeah.

We have had an absolutely outstanding clay in here.

Like food, dish after dish, course after course...

I wanted to know who cooked Soup Dragon.

What a dish.

So powerful.

Honestly, it was like getting smacked in the face,

but like in a really good way.

It was just... Thank you. Honestly, it was amazing for me.

Dish of the clay. I scored it ten out of ten.

Brilliant. Thanks. So, who cooked The Tasty Tudors?

Oh, just incredible.

I mean, that castle made of jelly was just the castle of dreams.

Best belly pork I've ever tasted, to be honest.

Honestly, it was really spectacular.

Well done. Thank you. This is going to be close.

We didn't know who cooked which dish,

so we've written our scores down and we've given them to Andi

to add them up.

So, the winner of the North East,

and going through to cook

at the national finals...

...is...

...Will. Well clone, mate.

Oh, legend.

Well clone, Will. Thank you.

Congratulations. The food was amazing.

It was mind-blowing. Yeah. Congratulations.

Did you do the Phoenix Meteor Shower?

Yeah. just really inventive.

There were so many individual elements on that dish

that were delicious - they all came together beautifully.

That pear was just incredible.

Thank you. Cal, you are the person that created that incredible

mushroom dish, that phenomenal main course,

and James And The Giant Peach dessert.

So, you go out of here with a bang. You did the North East so proud.

Thank you. Well done. You really did. Appreciate it.

I've got to say, as guest judge, thank you both for introducing me

to so many new flavours, things that I've never tried.

So, thank you for that.

Thank you so much for coming, Joe.

Have you had a good time? I've loved it. It's been great.

We'd love to invite you to the banquet. Of course.

Yeah, I'll be there. Chefs, it's been moving

and a genuine privilege to watch

you both share your talents.

Thank you so much. Cheers. Well clone, chefs.

Congratulations. Well done, chefs.

Oh!

Relieved. Happy.

Feels amazing to represent North East and Yorkshire.

It's... Yeah. Dream come true.

It's hard to be, you know, upset or angry with the result.

I mean, second is still good enough for me.

I would love a dish at the banquet. Or two, maybe.

Yeah. Good luck, Will.

So, Tom, I promised you a good day, didn't I?

Unbelievable clay. I'm exhausted.

It was plate after plate of consistently good, great food.

There wasn't a single dull or duff dish.

I mean, it got to the point in the judging chamber there

that we're trying to find points to take away, just to try

and separate them.

Yeah, I mean, there were four points in it. And that's a great testament

to these both incredible chefs.

I'm so happy for Will.

Well, I'll tell you what, I got punched in the face by

a Soup Dragon, and I cannot wait for them to hit me again in finals week.

He'll be back.

You've got to do all this again!

Congrats, man. How do you feel, Will?

Ecstatic? Ecstatic.

Long week. Cheers.

Gold like that,